Graphic Design Program at Gateway Technical College

from Peter Pham

Every year I process the work for each Student Design Show, I make note of the trends that appear among the submissions each year. Certain work is consistently submitted, while other categories seem to ‘ebb and flow.’ It is an interesting snapshot of trends for that particular year.

A few facts about this year’s show:

• Around 200 pieces were submitted this year. [We’ve had in excess of 300 in a very active year with high enrollments, and as low as 150]
• Qualifying student work was to have been created between Spring of 2024 (not previously submitted) through April , 2025. It may be selected from student coursework, or from parallel individual practice to coursework.
• All Categories needed to be made up of minimally 5 submissions to remain “competitive.” Where more than 5 submissions were not received, that category was merged with another similar or like category. (Since the Districtwide Student Design Show began in 1999, we have had anywhere between 7 and 14 categories in a given annual show). This years final consolidated categories came to 10 categories.
• This year’s categorical submissions (from MOST submissions in a category to the least) were:  

1. LAYOUT and LOGOS and IDENTITY (merged category) (~21%)
2. DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION (~13%)
3. 3D & Packaging (~13%)
4. POSTERS (~12%)
5. PHOTOGRAPHY: “Straight-out-of-the -Camera” (~9%)
6. MULTIMEDIA [film/video, presentations, simple games, motion graphics](~9%)
7. COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGNS (~8%)
8. WEB [sites, prototypes, static web items] (~6%)
9. TRADITIONAL MEDIA (~6%)
10. PHOTOGRAPHY: combined Photomanipulation and Edited images (~3%)
    

• LAYOUT [combined with Logos and Identity] had the top slot. This hearkens back to the early 2000’s, where Layout categories were the top.
• Digital Illustration and Posters have frequently occupied spaces within the top 5 slots.
  Again, this seems to be what most folks commonly associate with “graphic design” as a practical discipline. The reality is most entry-level jobs are related to Layout, and the plethora of design-related jobs is (now more than ever) in high parity.
• Photography in GENERAL has dropped significantly from its heyday on the 2010’s, where it consistently occupied the top slots, and spawned the DIGITAL PHOTIOGRAPHY certificate.
• Traditional Illustration media , which was for many years near the top, has fallen off to a slot near the bottom. This is interesting since it is also associated with what most people would consider a major part of graphic design.many people have considered “art” or design. It is probably more a recognition of the communicative aspects of graphic design.
• Video and Multimedia has risen to an ALL-TIME-HIGH in submissions! This may correlate with a borders understanding of the communicative aspects of design.

This is a callout to anyone attending the RECEPTION Thursday Evening to please consider sharing your PHOTOS and IMAGES with the show site. Contact Peter Pham [phampete@gtc.edu] to help share your images from the event!

Don’t keep your amazing photos to yourself! Share your photos with us!
We’d love to see your unique perspectives and favorite moments!

We have two videos to share with everyone from the setup day (pre-show walkthrough) as well as the Awards Ceremony and Reception night.